Clothing comfort: A key parameter in clothing

by Prof. Tanveer Malik and Prof T.K.Sinha, Department of Textile Technology,

Shri Vaishnav Institute of Technology and Science.

Abstract: The basic requirement of clothing is that it must not cause discomfort for the wearer. Modern consumers are interested in
clothing that not only looks good, but also feel good. It has been identified, by both natural and synthetic fiber markers, that con-
sumers are increasingly involving more than their visual sense and are allowing touch, smell, intuition and emotion to influence their
decisions. As a result, greater importance being attributed to the shopping and wearing experience interest is growing in better feel-
ing fabrics. Comfort is being reinforced a key parameter in clothing. Good health is treasure. The textiles are making human life, a
natural healthy life and making them comfortable.
Comfort has been identified by major fiber marketers as one of the key attributes for consumers desirability on apparel products in
all markets. Comfort as a pleasant state of physiological, psychological and physical harmony between a human being and the envi-
ronment. Physiological comfort is related to the human bodys ability to maintain life, psychological comfort to the minds ability to
keep it functioning satisfactorily with external help and physical comfort to the effect of the external environment on the body.

Introduction channels of sensory responses to form

subjective perceptions. Energy
The psychological and physiological Activity cost
states have a number of aspects. Thermal comfort
 Thermo physiological comfort
(Watts)
Attainment of a comfortable thermal Heat Balance
Sleeping 70
and wetness state. It involves trans- The human body tries to maintain a
port of heat and moisture through a constant core temperature of about 370C. Resting 90
fabric. The actual value varies slightly from
 Sensorial comfort The elicitation of person to person but the temperature of Walking 1.6 km/h (1 mph) 140-175

Apparel & Knitwear

various neutral sensations when a tex-
tile comes into contact with skin.
 Body movement comfort Ability of a
textile to allow freedom of move-
ment, reduced burden and body
shaping, as required.
 Aesthetic appeal Subjective percep-
tion of clothing to the eye, hand, ear,
and nose which contributes to the
overall well being of the wearer.
In all these definitions, there are a
number of essential components:
 Comfort is related to subjective per-
ception of various sensations.
 Comfort involves many aspects of
human senses, such as visual (aes-
thetic comfort), thermal (cold and
warm), pain (prickle and itch), and
touch (smooth, rough, soft and stiff).
 The subjective perceptions involve
psychological processes in which all
relevant sensory perceptions are for-
mulated, weighed, combined, and
evaluated against past experiences
and present desires to form an overall
assessment of comfort status.
 Body clothing interactions (both ther-
mal and mechanical) play important
roles in determining the comfort state
of the wearer.
 External environments (physical, social
and cultural) have great impact on the
comfort status of the wearer.
This suggests that comfort is multidi-
mensional and complex. Subjective per-
ception of comfort involves complicated
processes in which a large number of stim-
uli from clothing external environments
communicate to the brain through multi
any one person is maintained within
narrow limits. In most climates, body tem-
perature is above that of the external envi-
ronment so that there has to be an internal
source of heat in order to maintain the
temperature difference. The required heat
comes from the bodys metabolism that is
necessary burning of calories to provide
power to the muscles and other internal
functions. However, the body must be
kept in thermal balance. The metabolic
heat generated together with the heat
received from external sources must be
matched by the loss from the body of an
equivalent amount of heat. If the heat
gain and the heat loss are not in balance
then the body temperature will either rise
or fall leading to a serious threat to life.
Body moisture
passes through
the structure Warmth - Unique
finishing creates air
easily
pockets to trap
warmth.
Thermal Balance plus - Advanced
Technical Fleece Fabrics.
Walking 4.8 km/h (3 mph) 280-350
Cycling 16 km/h (10 mph) 420-490
Hard physical work 445-545
Running physical work 700-770
Sprinting 1400-1500
The efficiency of the human organism
is such that of the energy taken in as food
only 15-30% is converted into useful work
with the remaining 70-85% of the energy
being wasted as heat. Any level of physi-
cal activity above the needed to maintain
body temperature will result in an excess
of heat energy, which must be dissipated,
otherwise the body temperature will rise.
A lower level of physical activity will lead
to a fall in body temperature if the avail-
able heat is not conserved by increased
insulation.
The approximate energy costs, which
are associated with human activity, are
shown in Table and range from a mini-
mum value of about 70W when sleeping
to an absolute maximum of about 500W
(corresponding to hard physical work) can
be kept up for a number of hours. If a
person is comfortable (i.e. in heat balance)
at rest then a burst of hard exercise will
mean that there is a large amount of
excess heat and also perspiration to be dis-
sipated. On the other hand if the person is
in heat balance during strenuous exercise
then he or she will feel cold when resting
owing to the large reduction of heat gen-
eration.

PTJ January 2012 55

 Heat loss
There are four mechanisms that allow
the body to lose heat to the environment
in order to maintain its thermal balance.
The way the heat loss is divided between
the mechanisms depends on the external
environment.
 Conduction
 Convection
 Radiation
 Evaporation
The requirements for heat balance
vary with the climate; in hot climates the
problem is one of heat dissipation whereas
in cold climates it is one of heat conserva-
tion. Clothing has a large part to play in
the maintenance of heat balance as it
modifies the heat loss from the skin sur-
face and at the same time has the second-
ary effect of altering the moisture loss
from the skin surface. However, no one
clothing system is suitable for all occasions
a clothing system that is suitable for one
climate is usually completely unsuitable for
another.
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battings or down and feathers may con-
tain 10% or less actual fibre, with the rest
consisting of air.
Moisture Vapour Permeability
Perspiration is an important mecha-
nism, which the body uses to lose heat
when its temperature starts to rise. Heat is
taken from the body in order to supply the
latent heat needed to evaporate the mois-
ture from the skin.
There are two forms of perspiration.
 Insensible in this form the perspira-
tion is transported as a vapour and it
passes through the air gaps between
yarns in a fabric,
 Liquid this form occurs at higher
sweating rates and it wets the cloth-
ing, which is in contact with the skin.
Wind proof fabrics
Windproof At Durable
perform- Water
ance elimi-
Repellent
nates
same mechanism as that which makes per-
spiration effective.
The waterproofing of fabrics can read-
ily be achieved by the use of synthetic
polymer coatings, however, the uses of
simple coatings bring with it the penalty of
excess build-up of moisture vapour above
certain levels of activity. The design of
clothing for comfort and protection in
adverse weather conditions is therefore a
matter of compromise between the com-
peting requirements. No one fabric or
clothing item can fulfill all the require-
ments, the clothing system, as a whole has
to be considered.
Moisture transport
In order to keep the wearer dry ad
hence comfortable, clothing that is worn
during vigorous activity, such as sports
clothing, has to be able to deal with the
perspiration produced by such activity.
There are two main properties of clothing
that affect the handling of moisture.
Firstly there is the ease with which clothing
allows the perspiration to be evaporated

The main fabric properties that are of (DWR) outer

importance for maintaining thermal com-
fort are:
 Insulation
 Wind proofing
 Moisture vapour permeability
 Waterproofing
Insulation
An air temperature of 28-290C would
be required for a person to be able to sit in
comfort without wearing any clothes. At
air temperatures lower than this, there-
fore, the body will lose heat without the
added insulation given by clothing.
It losses by convection can be pre-
vented, the air itself offers a very high
resistance to heat conduction having a
value of thermal resistance which is only
slightly less than that of a vacuum.
Convection losses arise because the body
loses heat to the air in contact with it. This
heated air is then immediately replaced
with cooler air either through natural con-
vection or through air currents. The air
currents can be caused by either body
movement or by external airflow such as
in windy conditions. Convection losses
can there be reduced by keeping the air
surrounding the body at rest. Air tends to
cling to solid surfaces so that material
with a large exposed surface area, such as
a mass of fine fibres, acts as a good resister
of air movement. In clothing the majority
of the bulk is composed of air, for example
a worsted suiting fabric is made up of 25%
fibre and 75% air whereas knitted under-
wear and quilted fabrics filled with fibre
windchill. fabric treat- from the skin surface during the activity.
ment helps Secondly, after the activity had ceased,
rain water there is a need for the moisture that is con-
run off.
Isotex 8000
tained in the clothing layer next to the
membrane forms It is also perme- unnecessarily through having a wet skin.
a barrier against able to water Some workers also consider that the
water droplets to vapour allowing extent to which the wet fabric clings to the
protect you from perspiration to skin is also important to the comfort of a
the elements. escape to keep garment.
you dry and
comfortable. Moisture is transmitted through fabrics
in two ways:
Windproof Durable  By diffusion of water vapour through
perform- waterproof
ance elimi- performance
the fabric. This appears to be inde-
nates to keep pendent of fibre type but is governed
windchill. water out by the fabric structure. The measure-
ment of airflow through the fabric
provides a good guide to its ability to
Hydrophilic Durable Water pass water vapour in large quantities.
breathable Repellent  By the wicking of liquid water away
system to move (DWR) outer
moisture vapour from the skin using the mechanism of
fabric treatment
out through the to help water
capillary transport. The ability of a
fabric and keep fabric to do this is dependent on the
run off
you comfortable surface properties of the constituent
fibres ad their total surface area. The
size and number of the capillary paths
Water proofing through the fabric are also very
important but these are governed by
Waterproofing is very important for factor such as fibre size, the yarn
the outer layer of a clothing system structure and the fabric structure. The
designed to be worn outdoors. This prop- capillary network of the fabric is
erty is particularly important in cold dependent on the direction under
weather activities for keeping the insula- consideration so that the wicking
tion of any clothing system dry. Water properties through the thickness of
logging of fabrics fills up the air spaces the fabric may be different from those
with water and hence reduced their insula- in the plane of the fabric. Also the
tion value considerably as shown in Table. rate of wicking may be different along
If the water penetrates to the skin it can the warp (wale) direction along the
also remove a large amount of heat by the weft (course) direction.

56 PTJ January 2012

Sensorial comfort
Sensorial comfort is concerned with
how a fabric or garment feels when it is
worn next to the skin. It has been found
that when subjects wore various fabrics
next to the skin they could not detect dif-
ferences in fabric structure, drape or fabric
finish but could detect differences in fabric
hairiness. Some of the separate factors
contributing to sensorial comfort which
have been identified are:
 Tickle caused by fabric hairiness
 Prickle caused by coarse and therefore
stiff fibres protruding from fabric sur-
face. Matsudiaira et al. (15) found
that the stiffness of protruding fibres
given diameter the end of a long fibre
is more easily deflected a fixed
amount than the end of a short fibre
so it appears less prickly. For fibre of a
given length a larger diameter is much
stiffer depending on the fourth power
of the diameter and hence is more
likely to prick.
 Wet cling, which is associated with
seating and is caused by damp and
sticky sweat residues on skin. A factor
influencing cling is the actual area of
fabric in contact with skin, which in
turn is influenced by fabric structure.
 Warmth to touch: When a garment is
first picked up or put on it is usually at
a lower temperature than the skin and
thus there will be a loss of heat from
the body to the garment until the
temperatures of the surfaces in con-
tact equalize. The differences in cold
feel between fabrics is mainly deter-
mined by their surface structure rather
than by the fibre type.
For example a cotton sheet feels cool
whereas a flannelette sheet, which is pro-
duced by raising the surface of a cotton
fabric, feels comparatively warm. The
raised surface gives a lower contact area
and hence a slower rate of change of tem-
perature. Ironing a cotton sheet has the
effect of increasing the cold feel by com-
pacting the surface structure.
Water absorption
Some textile end uses such as towels,
cleaning cloths, nappies (diapers) and
incontinence pads require the material to
absorb water. There are two facets to the
absorption of water: one is the total
amount that can be absorbed regardless of
time and the other is the speed of intake
of the water. These two properties are not
necessarily related as fabrics of similar
structures but with different rates of
uptake of the water. These two properties
are not necessarily related as fabrics of
similar structures but with different rates
of uptake may ultimately hold similar
amounts of water if enough time is
allowed for them to reach equilibrium.
Alternatively soaking the fabrics in water
so that they take up their maximum load
may mask any differences in rate of
uptake.
Water repellency
A number of end uses, particularly
those where fabric is used out of doors
require the material to be more or less
impermeable to rain. These include outer-
wear such as anoraks, cagoules and rain-
coats also industrial fabrics such as tents
and tarpaulins. Broadly two main cate-
gories of resistance to water penetrations
are recognized, based mainly on the treat-
ment that has been used on the fabric.
Waterproof
A water proof fabric is one that is
coated or impregnated to form a continu-
ous barrier to the passage of water using
for example rubber, polyurethane, and
PVC or wax coatings. In such fabrics the
gaps between the yarns are filled in by the
coating which gives rise to two main
drawbacks. Firstly the fabric will no longer
allow water vapour to pass through it,
making it uncomfortable to wear when
sweating. Secondly the binding together
of the yarns by the coating reduces the
ability of fabric to shear and thus to mould
to the body contours.
Showerproof
Shower proof fabrics are ones that
have been treated in such a way as to
delay the absorption and penetration of
water. Shower proofing of fabrics is often
achieved by coding them with a thin film
of a hydrophobic compound such as a sili-
cone. The film covers the surface of the
individual fibres making them water repel-
lent. When a fabric has been treated in
this way a drop of water on the surface
does not spread. The process leaves the
gaps in the fabric weave untouched so
keeping it quite permeable to air and
water vapour. The process also leaves the
handle of the fabric largely unaffected
unlike fabrics with a water proof coating.
However, water can penetrate the fabric if
it strikes it with sufficient force as in heavy
rain; alternatively, the flexing of the fabric
during wear can cause the gaps in the
weave to open and close so allowing the
water to penetrate.
Conclusion
In modern consumer markets, compa-
nies that fail to develop new products are
facing great risk. Their existing products
are vulnerable to various changes in the
market paces, such as changes in con-
sumer needs and preferences, new tech-
nologies, shortened product life cycles,
and increasing competition from substi-
tutes and foreign domestic companies.
Meanwhile, new product development is
risky with a disturbing failing rate.
It has been estimated that major of the
new products fail at launch. The common
features of successful new products across
a wide rang of industries and concluded
that the number one success factor is a
unique, superior product with higher qual-
ity, new features and higher value in use.
Consumers are demanding more func-
tions, higher quality and more added
values. Fashion is no longer dictated by a
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handful of couture designers. Instead,
consumer lifestyles are having a growing
impact on the direction of fashion trends.
Today consumers desire garments that
enable them to be comfortable and feel
good in, whatever activity they happen to
be engaged upon.
They want their clothing to be natural
comfortable and easy care. With these
changes, development of new products to
satisfy consumer needs and wants has
become increasingly more difficult and
more important for competing in the con-
sumer markets.
References
 Physical testing of Textiles, B.P. Saville,
Woodhead Publishing Limited.
 The Science of Clothing Comfort, J.M.
Layton, The Textile Institute Textile
Progress, Volume 31.
 Clothing, Textiles and Hunan
Performance, Alden Bookset.
 The Textile Institute; Vol. 32, Textile
Progress.
 Handbook of Textile for Protection by
Woodhead Publishing House.
 www.comfortspacing.com.
 www.sportswear.com.
PTJ January 2012 57